


In Every Life

by Colourspaz



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Self-Harm, War, and some in the fourth, for the first chapter, in the 5th chaper, in the third chapter, minally
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-05-29 04:59:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15065672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colourspaz/pseuds/Colourspaz
Summary: Soulmate AU where you have several lives with your soulmate, and after the last one, which is usually the best one, you get to spend eternity with them in the afterlife.Angsty Minally with a serving of fluff.





	1. The one where they are only children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied child abuse for this one

The first life they meet in is rushed and harsh. They are only children, meeting for the first time in a long string of encounters. Minho is playing in a cluster of other children, when a boy in the corner of the room catches his eye. He waits until the attention is drawn to someone else, then quietly slips away to the corner. He sits next to the boy, who doesn’t appear to notice him. It’s okay. Minho can wait. One minute. Three. Five. Ten. And finally, the boy speaks.

“You didn’t have to come over here.” The boy’s face is still buried in his arms, knees tucked up to his chest.

“I know.” Minho replies, short and simple. “I can leave, if you want.” He starts to get up.

“No.” The boy’s face is out of his arms, and he’s grabbed Minho’s wrist ever so lightly. Minho looks back and almost loses his breath. The boy’s entire face is a mess of cuts and bruises, but under that, there’s splashes of freckles and rumpled dirty blonde hair. And the eyes. The eyes are what catch Minho by surprise. It’s not the colour, which is a beautiful pale hazel. But the boy’s eyes are covered in a thick layer of...fear. 

All Minho can respond with is a simple “Okay.” He sits back down where he was before, and the boy plants his face in his arms again. Minho is content with sitting there, letting the boy be. But then he notices that his shoulders are shaking, and he can hear quiet sobs. 

“Are you okay?” Minho asks. “Is there something I can do for you?” The boy shakes his head. “I’ll be fine.” His voice is hoarse and muffled by his arms. Minho figures it’s best to just drop it, and tries something else instead.

“What’s your name?” He finally asks, trying to use something, anything, to distract him. 

A shaky whisper emerges from the boy’s throat. “Galileo. I hate it.” he adds.

“Then how about...Gally?” Minho asks. Gally’s head comes up up slightly, and Minho’s breath catches slightly when he sees those eyes again, peering up at him.

 

“Okay. I like that. But don’t tell anyone else, okay?” Gally asks. Minho nods and holds out his hand. “Pinky promise?”

Gally puts his hand out too. “Pinky promise.” When he raises his arm, Minho can see a bunch of small circular burns on his arm. He doesn’t mention them, he just hooks pinkies with the other boy and smiles. He’s beginning to like this boy.

 

“I won’t tell a soul.” MInho says. When Gally looks at him quizzically, he explains that it’s something he heard his older sister say. 

“Do you have any siblings?” 

Gally nods. “My twin sister Beth and my little brother Chuck. He’s only a baby. Dad always makes me an’ Beth take care of him, and then he goes and drinks lots with his friends.” 

Minho frowns slightly. “That doesn’t sound fun.” Gally just shakes his head, and then they change the topic. 

They become fast friends, hanging out and talking all day for the entire week. 

On Friday, when the day is over, Gally’s father picks him up and drives in the opposite direction of home. 

Minho never sees Gally again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short...the next ones are longer, I promise!


	2. The one where they thought it was false

The second life they meet in is barely a meeting at all. Minho is a barista working in a lame “hippie cafe” as he has dubbed it, trying to make enough money to scrape by and pay his tuition. Gally is an art student who doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have a scholarship for his painting. 

Gally’s done with classes for the day, so he heads to the coffee shop that Ben keeps telling him to go to. He opens the door and the first thing that catches his eye is the beautiful boy working at the register. He gulps and steps in all the way, letting the door close all the way. After a few moments, he becomes duly aware that he’s staring. He switches his gaze to the menu, then walks up and tries (and fails) to not stare at the boy. 

“All set?” He asks, snapping Gally out of his stupor.

“Ye-yeah, uh, may I have a small vanilla steamer, please?” Gally stammers out. The boy nods and winks, and Gally nearly swoons. He manages to walk away from the counter, but in doing so, he just has to trip over his own feet and spill his books everywhere. 

Face red, he tries to pick them all up quickly, but of course some freaking white bitch just has to “accidentally” knock into him. Everything he’d just picked up falls down to the floor. He huffs in frustration and starts again, trying to prevent his hands from shaking too much. He’s rushing even more, cramming books into his honestly too-small bag. He turns around for the last one, and then the beautiful boy is there, handing it to him. 

“Sorry about the girl. The customers can be pretty...annoying sometimes.” He offers a small smile. Gally probably mutters something like “yeahthanksbye” and rushes over to wait for his drink. He doesn’t realize he’s biting his nails until his name is called. He walks up and grabs the steamer without looking up, mutters a “thank you” and speeds over to a chair in the corner. It isn’t until he goes to sip his drink that he sees the number written on top. 

It isn’t a phone number like he originally assumed. A thought strikes him and he grabs the book that the beautiful boy handed to him and flips to the page number listed on the cup.

There’s nothing there. No note, no phone number, nothing. Gally sighs and puts the book back into his bag. 

Later, after his shift, Minho waits for a text, but it never comes. He waits for almost a month before figuring that Gally just wasn’t into him. But he never noticed the small slip of paper with his number and the words “Text me!” falling out of the book and onto the floor after he put it in. 

It’s a shame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes this one was short too sorry   
> If you think this was angsty wait for the next one   
> :)


	3. The one where they thought they were wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!Self harm trigger warning for this chapter!!!!!!! 
> 
> Stay safe loves!

Their third life gives them a little more time, but it still ends in tragedy. They’re both young, still in the early years of high school. They both have nice families and wonderful friends. It seems like this should be the correct life, right? 

Right?

They start dating, secretly, in 9th grade. They would be out and proud if the principal and vice principal weren’t so damn homophobic. They use a claim of “Not wanting children to date” and their cover, but Gally has seen straight couples practically making out in front of them and they haven’t so much as batted an eyelid. And they keep such a close eye on the students that Minho and Gally can’t even tell their friends.

Gally remembers one late night a few days before 10th grade started. They had the entire group over for dinner and the arcade and a movie. Everyone else had gone home, and it was just Minho and Gally. Gally was laying on top of Minho (He had been shorter then), face buried in his chest while Minho absentmindedly played with his hair.

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to tell our friends?” The question had been plaguing Gally’s mind for weeks. Minho offers a questioning hum, no having heard the question. 

“Do you think we’ll ever be able to walk around without having to watch our backs? Or be able to cuddle in public? Or be able to say-” Gally takes a deep breath, “-To say I love you without needing to care who hears?” 

Minho moves his hands to Gally’s shoulders, hugging him close. He presses a kiss to Gally’s temple.

“I sure hope so.” he murmurs, lips moving against Gally’s skin. “Because I love you too.” Gally can feel him grinning. 

Now, looking back, Gally can only wonder whether or not Minho really meant that. He doubts it. 

(Part of him knows that he did mean it, but he beats that part to a pulp and shoves it into the darkest corners of his mind.)

On the first day back, he walks into school and sees Minho sitting next to Brenda. Unfortunately, Brenda sees him first. She shoots him a smug little smile and-and-

And.

She grabs Minho’s face and kisses him full on the mouth. And Minho doesn’t back away.

(If Gally had stayed, he would have learned that Minho was too shocked to do anything.)

(If Gally had stayed, everything would still be okay.) 

But instead he turns tail and walks out, rushing to the bathrooms and locking himself in a stall before he lets the tears slip out. Of course Minho’s not interested in him. He deserves someone good like Brenda. They’ll be happy together. He stays in the bathroom for a long time, slumped against the floor. The bell rings and he still doesn’t move. How could he be so childish? Of course there was no way Minho actually liked a pathetic, ugly nerd like him. 

A thought strikes Gally. He reaches into his bag with shaky hands and pulls the x-acto knife from his pencil bag. He wants so, so badly to end it permanently, but the small voice of reason is telling him it’s not worth it. 

So he instead settles for making many, many thin, red lines across his arms. 

They sting. 

He tells himself he deserves it.

Gally stops talking to all of his friends from the old group. He becomes a loner, and people talk.

(He used to be so popular.)

(He was so friendly and outgoing.)

(Have you noticed he only wears long sleeves now?)

He ignores Minho most of all, brushing him off when he tries to explain. He moves schools after tenth grade, and he never sees Minho again.

But he thinks of him every time he brings out his blade.


	4. The one where they thought it was gone forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I know. It's been like,,,,a year. I'm sorry. I don't have a very good excuse.

Their fourth life starts out good. They meet in boarding school in the 8th grade and hit it off instantly. Their school is good too. Unless you mess up so badly that you are to be expelled. If you do, you’re sent to the school across town. Nobody can even remember what it’s called, they just refer to is as “The School of No Escape” or, more simply, “The School.” It was infamous for sending its students into the War, where they almost all got killed after a mere week.

None of them had ever been particularly worried about this. They were all pretty good kids. That is, until one of them, Ben, started drifting off the rails. He started skipping classes, not doing his work, and talking back to the teachers. Rumours spread about “Bad family life” or “Exam stress” but his friends knew the real problem. He had somehow gotten ahold of a new drug called “Sting” and had gotten hooked. 

But the worst part came when he decided to sneak into the teacher’s lounge after hours and steal the answer key for the exams. Gally noticed when he snuck out of the dorms, and he decided to follow behind with the intent of stopping him. 

To this day, Gally still doesn’t know how he did it. How Ben snuck into the teachers lounge, got the answers, snuck out, and alerted a teacher without being seen.

Gally only ever blamed himself for being so damn loyal. He took the blame for Ben, and was sent to The School. Without any explanation to his friends, either. A staff member was sent to get his clothes and belongings from the dorm, and he was at The School by the next morning. All his friends knew that Gally and all of his belongings were gone from the dorm the next morning, but they could connect the dots. 

They were all quite sad, but none more than Minho. He and Gally had been quite close, but in a different way than Minho and Newt and Thomas were close. Even though they only met a few years ago. There was even a running bet on whether they were dating, but all bets were dropped when Gally was transferred. Minho became more reclusive. Newt was the one to but the best label on it, describing him as “Faded.” And indeed, it did seem as if a part of Minho’s life force had faded away. 

But life carried on. Ben eventually got shipped away too, for attacking Thomas. They keep going to class, keep hanging out, and eventually graduate. Their lives drift slightly apart, but they all keep in contact. They all attend different colleges, too. Well, save for Newt and Thomas, who are practically attached at the hips and lips. Minho is attending the community college for a major in English and a minor in business. 

Somehow, one day, he runs into their old principal, Mrs. Paige. They chat for a while, and the topic of school comes up, and then friends, and then Gally. The principal hesitates like she wants to tell him something, and then gives in and says it.

“I was talking to Mr. Janson, the principal over at WCKD academy. I believe you students referred to it as ‘The School.’ According to him, your friends Mr. Brooks was sent into the War in 12th grade and was recently...was recently declared killed in action. His plane was shot down, and a body was never recovered.”

Minho feels like he’s going to throw up. He takes a shuddering breath, nods at Mrs. Paige, and mutters a “Thanks” as he pushes past her. He manages to make it to his apartment before collapsing and breaking down into tears. Tears not only for his friend, but for the only person he’s ever truly loved. Gally will never know how much Minho’s heart hurt every time he smiled at Minho. Or how it pounded every time they hugged. He cries for a love that died before it ever lived. 

And still, life carries on. It does have a habit of doing that. 

If you ask Minho, he’ll claim that he’s fine, but if you ask his friends, he’s more faded than ever. And then, about a year after they learn of Gally’s death, the War ends. A peace treaty is made. Minho doesn’t care. He can’t bring himself to. 

And to think, everything would have stayed the same if Thomas was actually a coordinated human being. Minho never thought he’d say this, but thank god for the boy’s terrible sense of direction. According to Thomas, he was walking around the city and surprise, surprise, gets lost. He ends up having to ask a stranger for directions, except the person isn’t exactly a stranger. A familiar face, but one Thomas hadn’t seen in forever. One he never thought he’d see again. 

“Gally?” 

“No way, Thomas?” 

Hugs are given and small talk is made until they realize that they’re both lost. After flagging down a third person to ask for directions, a thought sparks into Thomas’s brain. 

“How did you survive?” He asks.

“I...I, um...can I just explain it when I meet up with everyone else? I only want to have to explain it once. Thomas nods and backs off from the topic. 

They finally reach Thomas and Newt’s house, but instead of walking up the porch, Thomas turns and heads for the apartment building a block away. When Gally asks where they’re going, all Thomas replies with is a sly smile and “There’s someone who would do well from seeing you.”

Minho is sitting on the couch, working on a paper, when he hears a knock on the door. He grumbles and leans his head back. He’d just gotten to the part of the paper that he’d actually wanted to write. 

“Who is it?” he calls out. Maybe he’ll be lucky and it’s just a salesman or a protestor or something. 

“Thomas.” 

Great. The most distracting of his friends. 

“Minho, could you come out here?”

He grumbles again. 

“Do I have to?” 

“Yes.” The answer surprises Minho. No, not the answer, but the tone of Thomas’ voice. Almost...urgent.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” He puts his laptop to the side and stands up, opening his door to see Thomas leaving and a dream standing in front of him. 

Gally offers a small smile and suddenly, Minho is 14 years old again, heart pounding and hands shaky. And then Gally speaks and Minho hears a voice he’s only heard in his dreams for 8 years. 

“I’m sorry.” Gally’s voice is deeper than he remembered. 

“For what?” Minho isn’t blinking because he knows if he does, the tears building up will definitely fall. 

“Leaving you.”

That was it. Minho rushes forwards, grabbing Gally in a tight embrace. Gally returns it, arms settling right where they should be. Minho’s aware that he’s crying, but he could care less. Gally’s alive.

“You had no choice.” Minho’s voice is muffled by Gally’s shoulder. Gally only responds by holding him tighter and shaking his head ever so slightly.

“I knew Ben did it. I knew they would believe me if I told them it was Ben. I took the blame anyways.” His voice is shaking, and Minho realizes he’s crying too.

Minho pulls himself away from Gally, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him inside the apartment. He looks at the floor, purposefully not meeting Gally’s eyes.

“Hey. Look at me.” Gally’s voice is pleading, and it shatters Minho’s heart. 

Minho’s next words are a blow to Gally’s heart.

“I can’t. I’ll stop dreaming if I do. That’s how this always goes.” Minho’s voice cracks, on the verge of tears again. 

Gally is silent, and Minho thinks he’s mad at him. 

“You want to know what the worst part of leaving was?” Gally breaks the silence. 

“I left before I could do something I really wanted to do.” Minho hears footsteps, and then Gally’s there, a hand on the back of Minho’s neck, guiding his gaze upwards.

“Feel free to punch me if I’m wrong about this.” 

Gally kisses him. A quick peck, nothing more, to test the waters. He opens his mouth to say something, but he finds he can’t say anything. 

Most likely because Minho is kissing the breath out of him, hands on either side of his face. Gally kisses back fervently, hands moving to Minho’s waist. 

They break when they run out of breath, smiling against each other’s mouths and not wanting to let go. 

~

Minho would definitely rank that as the best day of his life. Ever. Better than graduating, better than the day of Thomas and Newt’s wedding. Even better than the day Gally proposed to him. 

Sometimes Minho would wake up in the mornings with Gally’s arms wrapped tightly around his torso and the sun shining on their tangled limbs, and he would positively overflow with love for his partner. Because he still loves Gally so much it makes his heart ache.


End file.
